Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. Chatting from left to right is Doug Wade, of Shelton, Mayor Mark Lauretti, and Frank Borres, a property owner in Shelton.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. From left to right are Lauretti supporters Tony Cavalli, of Trumbull, Leonard Paoletta, of Easton, and John deGirolamo, of Monroe.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. From left to right are Lauretti supporters Anthony Simonetti, Chairman of the Shelton Republican Town Committee, Ned Miller, of Shelton, and John Danota, of Seymour.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. From left to right are Lauretti supporters Nilda Barahona and Raul Gonzalez, both of Bridgeport.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. From left to right are Lauretti supporters Ed Coyne, of Trumbull, Ray Carroll, of Milford, and Ray's parents Frank and Pat Carroll, of Shelton.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. From left to right are Lauretti supporters Larry Laconte, of Trumbull, and Ben Fronsaglia, of Shelton.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Shelton Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Mark Lauretti appeared at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford, Conn. to give a stump speech on Tuesday April 22, 2014. Watching Lauretti speak is David Walker.
Photo: Christian Abraham

All the 11-term Shelton mayor wants, he said, is for Republican voters to look at his record before they make a gubernatorial choice.

"If you look at our mill rate over the last 20 years ... and chart it on a graph, it's almost a straight line," Lauretti said Tuesday night, when he addressed nearly 125 people during a campaign fundraiser at Vazzano's Four Seasons in Stratford.

"There are no bumps up or down that will significantly impact people," he said. "That's predictability. That's consistency."

He talked about the nearly 25,000 people who commute daily to jobs at 1,500 businesses in Shelton.

"That's not what it was like in 1991," Lauretti said. "We've become an employment hub. We've become an employment hub because businesses have sought us out. And when you bring in business, they bring in jobs."

He said another business -- with another 800 jobs -- is relocating to Shelton in a few weeks.

Lauretti talked about his 22 balanced budgets with 22 surpluses, and said Shelton's pensions are 100 percent funded.

"Who else can say that?" he said. "Certainly not the state or federal government."

Lauretti will say many of the same things during campaign stops April 27 at Ari Bella Restaurant in Shelton, and May 6 at Mickey's in Hamden.

He will likely tell prospective supporters about a bumper sticker he's seen. It has Connecticut written across the top, with the state flag below. Underneath are the words: "Leaving so soon? Was it something we taxed?"

"I've just got to keep getting the word out," Lauretti said. "Property owners in Shelton have seen their property taxes go down 3.8 percent since 2009. And our standard of living keeps rising."

David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general who is hoping to be the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, said Lauretti's biggest challenge is getting 15 percent of the delegates to support him to force a primary.

"He's got to state his case to them," said Walker, who attended Lauretti's fundraiser Tuesday. "He does have a strong track record in Shelton. The base of his campaign has to be showing he can grow a tax base faster than the budget ... That's what it takes to keep taxes low."

Lauretti, a one-time teacher and basketball coach at Central High School in Bridgeport who became a restaurateur before running for mayor, is one of six challengers -- along with Foley, McKinney, Boughton, John Visconti and Martha Dean -- seeking the Republican nomination for governor. Lauretti told those in attendance Tuesday that he will stabilize expenses, offer mandate relief and provide tax and pension reforms.

"Our unfunded liabilities in this state are incredible," he said. "We're virtually last in every financial category of measurement in the nation, and we are a state with means. So in my mind, there is something very wrong with this picture."

He branded the economic development strategy Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy employs as one of "corporate welfare."

Lauretti said Malloy "gave the richest hedge fund in the world $115 million to move from Westport to Stamford. Its CEO made $2 billion last year. Anyone see anything wrong with that picture?"

Lauretti said that when Cigna told Malloy it was leaving Connecticut for Pennsylvania, the company received $50 million to stay.

"These are the people who need it the least, and who's paying for it? The people who can least afford it," said Lauretti, who boasts he has never offered an incentive to any business moving to Shelton.

"The incentive is predictability," he said. "They know, year to year, what their financial responsibilities are going to be."